So, basically, Informatica will provide better integration and analytics support for savvy business users. That’s an industry-wide trend for integration vendors right now, so it’s not particularly surprising. It’s also not Informatica’s first time focusing on self-serve data integration.

Information Week describes Secure@Source as “an audit and compliance tool,” but that plays down just how significant experts say this new offering could be.

Saugatuck Research, for instance, said Secure@Source is the most important announcement that came out of Informatica 2014 (INFA14).

“The scheme enables identification, tracking, masking and otherwise protecting data as a resource from the inside out, rather than via the traditional perimeter-oriented, outside-in approach used today—often ineffectively, and certainly inefficiently,” writes Bruce Guptill, a senior vice president and head of research at Saugatuck Research, in a recent Lens360 post.

It’s worth noting that Programmable Web says Secure@Source will “evolve” into the 10th version of Informatica’s master data management tool.

The beta is expected to start later this year, with general availability in 2015.

Frankly, it’s about time. Everyone knows the perimeter is no longer a realistic approach to security. The cloud, open data, APIs and mobile devices changed that, and there’s no going back. It’s time for IT security practices to adapt, and Secure@Source sounds like a step in the right direction.